Day 12 (continued)

Henrik and I got back to the Ritz hotel mid-afternoon on day 12. We were shown a different room from the one we had when we first came. On a higher floor, the room was a little smaller, but had pretty much the same furniture and style as the first room. We took a much needed nap and then headed out for dinner in the early evening.

We took a Vietnamese rickshaw (bicycle that pushes a covered seat)! It was so much fun weaving in and out of traffic. I especially liked the Vietnamese rickshaws because the cyclist is in the back, so the passengers have full view of everything. (Of course the downside would be if anything bad happened *touchwood* the cyclist would be safer) And the ride was really cheap!

We arrived at a restaurant called Koto. It is a restaurant/non-profit organization for street kids in Vietnam to be trained in a skill. We were seated on the highest floor with a rooftop terrace, but on the side with airconditioning. I definitely wish we'd been seated one one of the other floors because the airconditioning wasn't working and it was so hot. I was a tad uncomfortable in the heat. We had a really delicious appetizer platter of springrolls. There were 3 different kinds- one fried, two with fresh rice paper- 1 with meat and 1 without. I absolutely love springrolls!!! For our main courses, baby had the duck which was really yummy! the presentation itself was pretty appetizing. I had some sort of pork, quail egg, squash claypot main, served with rice. My food was bland :( I'd definitely had better! I think even my mom cooks better than that! The thing we were most unhappy about was the price. The price was absolutely, ridiculously crazy. Not even close to what our guidebook had said, it was probably the most expensive meal we had on our trip ($20/pax)!!! I understand the cause, I fully support the cause- but its not so nice leaving a place feeling cheated. I'd much rather donate without getting anything in return or if I'd known earlier-only go for a drink.

We had what felt like the longest walk in the city looking for a cafe to have some coffee and chill out. We tried a local place, but left as we didnt get any service and the locals seemed hostile and creepy. In the end we found a Vietnamese version of Starbucks called Highlands Coffee. It was so great, I had my favorite iced caramel macchiato with whipped cream! Baby ordered a "normal" coffee but was surprised when he got a drip coffee. Apparently, drip coffee is normal to the Vietnamese. LOL

Our night ended with a nice romantic time at the Hoan Kiem lake across the street from our hotel. The turtle pagoda was lit up in the lake's calm waters as the city around it hummed with the sounds of its late night traffic. Absolute bliss =D


Day 13

Our last day in Vietnam! Henrik and I had a couple missions to complete before leaving! We woke up crazy early in the morning to visit Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. There are extremely strict rules for visiting his mausoleum. Rules include: a dress code of covered shoulders (sleeves) and bottoms that cover at least your knees (no shorts allowed), no pictures or any mobile devices, no smoking, eating etc and no talking. The mausoleum is only open for public viewing on Tuesdays to Thursdays from 8am to 11am (super tourist unfriendly- but we made it!), 10 months out of the year. Two months of the year (usually around oct-nov) Ho Chi Minh's body is sent to Russia where professional embalmers do his annual "touch ups".


At the entrance there was a massive line of people queuing to get in-good thing it moved rather quickly. The path towards the mausoleum was long and watched by guards (checking clothing, cameras, behavior etc). We enter the grey building (supposed to look like a lotus, but looks like a grey square to me =x) where it was nice and cool following the silent crowd 2 by 2 into the central hall of the mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh lay in a glass case with dim lights guarded by 4 guards with guns at each corner. *intimidated* He'd actually asked for cremation and his ashes to be spread across Vietnam......I guess the ruling communists begged to differ. When we exited the mausoleum, our cameras and phones were returned to us.


The next place we visited in the Ho Chi Minh relic area was the presidential palace. Not opened for public viewing, we were allowed to see the beautiful four-story yellow building from the outside. The building is surrounded by lush mango trees.


A huge contrast from the Presidential palace was the simple house on stilts that Ho Chi Minh had lived and worked in. The simple house had 2 rooms on the top floor (bedroom and study) and the open-air first floor had a meeting table in it. Everything had been left exactly as Ho Chi Minh had left it.

A litte ways walk through the garden, theres a large pond with the famous one pillar pagoda. The one pillar pagoda buddhist temple was built by emperor Ly Thai Tong. Having been childless, he dreamt that he met Avalokiteśvara who handed him a baby in a lotus flower. Later, Emperor Ly Thai Tong married a peasant girl who bore him a son. The emperor built the pagoda in gratitude for his "gift" as close as he could to the pagoda from his dream.


Right next to the lake, theres a small yellow temple. I can't remember or find out what its for, but we visited it! :D

Finally, the last of the Ho Chi Minh relics is the Ho Chi Minh Musem! This 3 floor musem depicted the story of Ho CHi Minh's life. From a recontructed hut in which he was born to the Vietnam war to the time of his death. It was quite interesting. Mr. Ho Chi Minh had a very fruitful life. I think he was a good man.

Our next stop for the day was the temple of literature*. Founded in 1070, the temple of literature is a temple of Confucius and served as Vietnam's first University. It consists of five courtyards lined out in order, divided by walls.


The first two courtyards are nicely manicured gardens with shady trees.


The Third courtyard is accessed though a big pavillion called the "Constellation of Literature". This courtyard is mainly taken up by a large pond called "The Well of Heavenly Clarity". On both sides of the courtyard are pavillions that shelter 82 stone steles. Each stele sits on the back of a tortise and has the names and birthplaces of the school's sucessful doctorate candidates.

The fourth courtyard is the courtyard of the sage sanctuary. Bordered on both sides are giftshops, offices and a small museum (once, the buildings contained 72 altars of Confucius's greatest students). At the far end of the fourth courtyard stands the Great House of Ceremonies. In it is a red lauqered statue of Confucius and surrounding him are 4 of his closest diciples- two on each side.

The fifth and last courtyard is the Thai Hoc- the university building destroyed by the French in 1947. Left, is a large 2 story building with statues of princes. (I kinda forget what they're there for but I'm sure they must've been important to be put there =x) On the side of the building there is a drum tower and a bell tower.

The last of the temple we visited was the temple's garden. On the outside of the temple was a wall-less, well kept garden with a small pavillion in the middle.


*We took a rickshaw again and the man not only ripped us off but was too damn lazy to drive us up to the entrance.....idiot....theres always the black sheep of society and I'm pretty sure he was one of them!

After a short nap from the morning sightseeing (we extended our check out time hehehe), we headed out for a late lunch! We found ourselves wandering around Hanoi looking for food. It was so crazy there was none!!! (We were around the Hoa Lo prison as it was our next visit) We tried a store and discovered it only sold drinks, we tried restaurants that weren't open until dinner or closed for whatever reason. Finally we discovered a little tiny local- 6 table cafe/restaurant in a back alley. Phewwww! We were starving!!! They didn't have spring rolls, but they did have awesomely delicious beef noodles. I had mine in broth and baby had his as a stir fry. They even had a home made chili sauce! amazing! The environment was cosy and the people were polite.


When we finished up and left, we found-to our dismay- it was raining cats and dogs! While waiting for the rain to stop, we bought some gum from the cute kids on the street. The had a table of candies. I'm pretty sure they were related to the restaurant we had just ate at. They were so cute and friendly I couldn't help it! hehehe

Unable to wait for the rain to totally stop raining, we took a cab about 2 blocks to the Hoa Lo prison. We get into the cab and say "Hoa Lo prison please". A look of confusion from our cab driver gets me worried we've found a non-english...or worse, non-english and non-trying cabbie. "You know the big prison??"
"ohhhh" *A look of recognization* thank god! "The Hanoi Hilton", He says with a grin.
hahaha. Cute.

The Hoa Lo prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton to American soldiers, was a prison used by the French colonists for politial prisoners. Later, it was used by the Northern Vietnamese for prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. Only part of the old prison is a museum now. The rest had been demolished in the 1990s to build high rise buildings. The musuem depicted the era of when the French had used the prison and the era when the Vietnamese had used the prison. I found it quite interesting and entertaining to see the stark contrasts of treatments. The first part of the musem showed us how badly the Vietnamese polititcal prisoners were treated. Towards the back of the building, is the interrogation room, now made out to be a comfortably styled room. Pictures in it displayed how well the Americans were treated during the war, Christmas dinner and games included. However in other parts of the world, published memoirs and oral histories of veterans that were held prisoners identified the room, describing it as the site of numerous acts of torture. Hmmmmmmm. (If you're going to lie about something make sure there are no proof of lies!!!)

When we left the prison It had stopped raining! We took a relaxing stroll around town and decided to take a break at a cute, modern cafe. I had a fruity shake, baby had irish coffee and we had ice cream to accompany it all down! yumm yumm!!

We had a couple hours to waste and decided on some souvenior shopping! The very last stop we had was at a restaurant by the Hoan Kiem lake on the way back to the hotel to pick up our stuff. I had my last springroll fix while enjoying the serenity of the lake nd wishing our vacation wasn't over.


*We had the slowest cab driver in the world to the airport! Our hotel fucked up our cab arrangement so we got one just off the street. He spoke on his cell phone almost the whole time and didn't heed Henrik's demands to go faster. He was so slow even the big riggs were passing us! Damn you!!! Plus he didn't speak a word of english. roarrr!!

It was definitely one of the best vacations ever! There were so many great experiences and new things to discover. Plus, yummy springrolls! Thankyou baby for everything! I had the most wonderful time and hope we have many more vacations together to come! I love you!